A young performer cries as she parades during the Bun Festival on Cheung Chau island in Hong Kong Tuesday, May 6, 2014. Bun Festival, the Taoist God of the Sea, is worshipped and evil spirits are believed to be scared away by loud gongs and drums during the procession. The celebration includes bun scrambling, parades, opera performances, and children dressed in colorful costumes. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP 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)

Esther Abad free diving in Cenote Chukum, in the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico on June 13, 2022. (Photo by Wojciech Dopierala/Mercury Press)

A dress rehearsal for the world premiere of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Luna at the Hippodrome in Birmingham, UK on October 2, 2024. (Photo by Elliott Franks/The Times)

An aerial photo shows a general view of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, in Shanghai on October 9, 2024. (Photo by Jade Gao/AFP Photo)

Miley Cyrus attends the 82nd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., January 5, 2025. (Photo by Daniel Cole/Reuters)

Nicole Kidman arrives for the world premiere of "Holland" at the Paramount Theatre during the South by Southwest Conference and Festival on Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP Photo)

A tiger enjoys frozen food at Rome Zoological Garden “Bioparco” during a heat wave in Rome on July 2, 2025. (Photo by Tiziana Fabi/AFP Photo)