Participants from an art group wearing traditional dresses rehearse Garba dance ahead of the Navratri festival in Ahmedabad on September 20, 2022. (Photo by Sam Panthaky/AFP)

An Emirati child plays with an airplane model near the venue of the Mazayin Dhafra Camel Festival, on December 20, 2012 near the city of Madinat Zayed, 150 kms west of Abu Dhabi. The festival, which attracts participants from around the Gulf region, includes a camel beauty contest, a display of UAE handcrafts and other activities aimed at promoting the country's folklore. (Photo by Karim Sahib/AFP Photo)

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)

The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) is seen over the sky near the village of Pallas (Muonio region) of Lapland, Finland September 8, 2017. (Photo by Alexander Kuznetsov/Reuters)

Aerial view of Taxodium Distichum in full blossom at a maze area of a wetland park on January 6, 2023 in Xiamen, Fujian Province of China. (Photo by Wu Wei/VCG via Getty Images)

Storm clouds build over a canola field near Cremona, Alberta, Friday, July 29, 2022. (Photo by Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP Photo)

Big waves approach the beach of Nazare, Portugal, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. The high waves were caused by strong winds at one of the world's most popular surf spots. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

An adult periodical cicada, in the process of shedding its nymphal skin, is visible on Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Cincinnati. There are two large compound eyes, which are used to visually perceive the world around them, and three small, jewel-like, simple eyes called ocelli at center. (Photo by Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)