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)

A billboard depicting a soldier, with a slogan reading “Contract service. A real man's job”, in St. Petersburg, Russia, 02 June 2023. On 24 February 2022, Russian troops entered Ukrainian territory in what the Russian president declared a “Special Military Operation”, starting an armed conflict. (Photo by Anatoly Maltsev/EPA)

A schoolgirl stands next to the Kenya-Uganda railway line during the partial reopening of schools, after the government scrapped plans to cancel the academic year due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya on October 12, 2020. (Photo by Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

A hot air balloon floats past an almost full rising moon on a warm fall evening near Encinitas, California October 5, 2014. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

Elfyn Evans of Great Britain and Daniel Barritt of Great Britain compete in their M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC during Day One of the WRC Australia on September 11, 2015 in Coffs Harbour, Australia. (Photo by Massimo Bettiol/Getty Images)

Fifty Shades Darker lingerie by Coco de Mer – capturing the “inner goddess” of Anastasia Steele – is launched following record-breaking release of movie’s new trailer. Official collection developed in conjunction with E.L. James to coincide with the new Fifty Shades Darker movie. They are the first official Fifty Shades Darker products to be released ahead of the new movie whose trailer was watched 114 million times in first 24 hours, breaking Star Wars: The Force Awakens previous record. (Photo by Rankin/Coco de Mer/Rex Shutterstock)

People walk past debris on May 3, 2015 in Bhaktapur, Nepal. A major 7.8 earthquake hit Kathmandu mid-day on Saturday, and was followed by multiple aftershocks that triggered avalanches on Mt. Everest that buried mountain climbers in their base camps. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)