People wade through a flooded path near Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers after the water level of river Ganges and river Yamuna rose, in Allahabad on October 14, 2022. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)

Police gesture in respect towards a monk as they block protesters trying to march to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation APEC summit venue, Friday, November 18, 2022, in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo by Wason Wanichakorn/AP Photo)

A dragonfly rests on a leaf in Hinojedo, Cantabria, northern Spain, 01 June 2023. (Photo by Pedro Puente Hoyos/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A bird swoops in to deliver its food to its chick, ramming it deep into its mouth while in flight. The photos of the swallows were captured by Kelvin Leong in Hampstead Wetlands Park, Singapore in July 2023. (Photo by Kelvin Leong/Solent News & Photo Agency)

This aerial view shows youths swimming to cool off in the waters of Iraq's Euphrates river during a heatwave, in the district of al-Hindiyah east of Karbala on June 7, 2024. (Photo by Karar Jabbar/AFP Photo)

A dog looks on, as dogs and humans take part in the annual Paris Sausage Walk, also known as the march of the dachshunds, in Paris, France, on November 17, 2024. (Photo by Kevin Coombs/Reuters)

“Thunderstruck”. Summer stom. A super cell formed off the coast of New Zealand, intensified and swept across Christchurch and North Canterbury, February 23, 2014. Photo location: Christchurch, New Zealand. (Photo and caption by David Hardy/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)