A woman dressed as the Star Trek character “Leeta” (C) and man dressed as “Rom” (2R) arrive to attend the “Destination Star Trek London” convention at the ExCeL centre on October 19, 2012 in London, England. The three-day convention, which opened to the general public today, will be attended by all five actors who played captains throughout the 46-year-old series. (Photo by Oli Scarff)

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)

An isolated five-floor building stands in the middle of a new road on November 22, 2012 in Wenling, Zhejiang Province of China. Zhejiang Province of China. 67-year-old Luo Baogen and his 65-year-old wife from Xiazhangyang village still live in the half-demolished residential building, because they are dissatisfied with the relocation compensation. The road, which leads to the Wenling Railway Station, has not been put into use. (Photo by China Foto Press)

“Einar Erici (1885–1965) was a physician by profession, working at a tuberculosis hospital in Stockholm, even running a private medical practice. He was by then the most renowned Swedish expert of church organs and organ builders, and his archival collection is today held by the Swedish National Heritage Board. This archive includes mostly writings, such as letters and manuscripts for published articles and essays, but also more than 2 000 black and white photos – original prints, glass plates and film negatives”. – Swedish National Heritage Board

Photo: Priest, Valamo Monastery, Karelia, Russia (then Finland), 1930s. Father Venerius with a birchbark basket. (Photo by Einar Erici)

Homeless people queue to get free hot food organized by social services during frost winter day in-Kiev on December 18, 2012. Nineteen people died of exposure in Ukraine in the last 24 hours amid temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit), bringing the toll this month to 37, the health ministry said Tuesday. (Photo by Sergei Supinsky/AFP Photo)

A general view shows solar panels to produce renewable energy at the photovoltaic park in Les Mees, in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, southern France March 31, 2015. The solar farm of the Colle des Mees, the biggest in France, consists of 112,780 solar modules covering an area of 200 hectares of land and representing 100 MW of power. (Photo by Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters)

A Kenyan soldier takes cover as shots are fired in front of Garissa University in Garissa town, located near the border with Somalia, some 370km northeast of the capital Nairobi, Kenya, 02 April 2015. At least 15 people have been killed and some 60 were injured in an attack carried out by Somalia's Islamist militant group al-Shabab, according to local media reports. (Photo by Dai Kurokawa/EPA)

A replica of pre-historic drawings showing horses, rhinoceros and aurochs is seen on a wall during a press visit at the site of the Cavern of Pont-d'Arc project in Vallon Pont d'Arc April 8, 2015. The Cavern of Pont-d'Arc project is a replica of the pre-historic Decorated Cave of Pont-d'Arc known as Grotte Chauvet, in Vallon Pont-d'Arc in the Ardeche region, containing the world's earliest known art which was recently named a UNESCO World Heritage site. The facsimile cavern, which condenses some 8000m² of the original site into 3000m², will display faithful reproductions of paintings and engravings and will be inaugurated on April 10 and will open to the public on April 25. (Photo by Robert Pratta/Reuters)