Tube passengers take a selfie next to a London underground roundel designed for the launching of the Night Tubes on display at Oxford Circus underground station in London, Britain, 19 August 2016. The long delayed Night Tubes service launched on 19 August. The 24-hour service will operate on Fridays and Saturdays. (Photo by Hannah Mckay/EPA)

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)

Hemispheric color differences on Saturn's moon Rhea are apparent in this false-color view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft in this March 2, 2010 file photo. (Photo by Reuters/NASA/JPL/SSI)

A visitor walks underneath a replica of a Titanosaur at the Cretaceous park in Cal Orcko, on the outskirts of Sucre, Bolivia, July 22, 2016. A footprint measuring over a meter wide that was made by a meat-eating predator some 80 million years ago has been discovered in Bolivia, one of the largest of its kind ever found. (Photo by David Mercado/Reuters)

Two white storks stand close to each other on their nest on a tree in Zerbolo, Italy, Thursday, October 26, 2017. (Photo by Antonio Calanni/AP Photo)

An Israeli soldier argues with a demonstrator wrapped in a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israeli settlements in Jordan Valley in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 6, 2022. (Photo by Raneen Sawafta/Reuters)

Guardian of the Mangroves – Overall Winner. Tanya Houppermans, Cuba. A curious American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) swims right up to Tanya, at Gardens of the Queen (Jardines De La Reina), an archipelago off the coast of Cuba. It has been strictly protected since 1996, and is one of the most untouched marine ecosystems in the world. ‍ “The healthy population of American crocodiles is down to the pristine condition of the mangroves and I wanted to capture close ups of this gentle giant in its natural habitat. I hope this image can illustrate that protecting areas like this is so critical”. (Photo by Tanya Griffin Houppermans/Mangrove Photographer of the Year)

A man takes pictures of the Aurora Australis, also known as the Southern Lights, as it glows on the horizon over waters of Lake Ellesmere on the outskirts of Christchurch on April 24, 2023. (Photo by Sanka Vidanagama/AFP Photo)