Secondary school graduates play in a fountain as they celebrate the last day of school, traditionally called the “last bell” in central Kiev, Ukraine on May 31, 2019. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

Alice Goodridge (left) and Tanya Mackenzie (right), members of the Loch Insh Dippers wild swim group, take part in a Christmas-themed swim in the frozen Loch Insh, Kingussie, in the Cairngorms National Park, Scotland on Friday, December 13, 2024. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)

British singer-songwriter and television actress Rita Ora in the first decade of February 2025 shows off her legs for days. (Photo by ritaora/Instagram)

One of a members of the Franciscan Action Network and immigration rights activists is arrested during a demonstration calling for the end of immigrant detention on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 18, 2019. (Photo by Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj (72) fights with Ottawa Senators forward Mark Kastelic (47) during the first period at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec on October 4, 2022. (Photo by Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports)

“The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most important sea turtle habitats in the world, with Lady Elliot Island being a key part of that habitat. Every year between November and March the green and loggerhead turtles lumber up the same beach on which they were born more than 50 years ago. These turtles nest on Lady Elliot Island up to nine times in a season, laying between 80 and 120 eggs per clutch. About eight weeks later, young hatchlings leave their nests and head towards the ocean (January to April)”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A Hawksbill sea turtle is seen swimming on January 15, 2012 in Lady Elliot Island, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Boeing B-29 (#10) from the 24th Bomb Squadron, 6th Bomb Group after an emergency landing at Iwo Jima on April 24,1945. (Photo by U.S. Air Force)

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)