A photographer has done her best to guess what her dog is daydreaming about – creating a series of fantasy adventures around her unaware pooch as he takes his daily naps. (Photo by Caters News)

A model presents a creation by French designer Barbara Bui as part of her Spring/Summer 2016 women's ready-to-wear collection during Fashion Week in Paris, France, October 1, 2015. (Photo by Charles Platiau/Reuters)

A person viewing the Northern lights over the lava landscape, Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland. (Photo by Arctic-Images/Getty Images)

A snail slithers up a rain spattered window during stormy weather on the Isle of Portland, Fortuneswell, England on July 29, 2018. (Photo by Stuart Fretwell/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A rose chafer in Oxfordshire, UK on July 8, 2024. The beetles are often seen on flowers in the garden and are sometimes maligned for munching their way through these plants. However, they are an important detritivore as they feed on dead and decaying matter and recycle its nutrients, which makes a helpful addition to any compost. (Photo by Geoffrey Swaine/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Swedish brown bears “Fred” and “Frode” play in the snow on January 30, 2014 at the Natur- und Umweltpark (NUP) animal park in Guestrow, northeastern Germany. Despite of icy temperatures, the bear brothers took a break from their winter rest. (Photo by Bernd Wuestneck/AFP Photo/DPA)

Starlings are seen at their nesting box in a private garden in the town of Bobruisk, Belarus, April 8, 2018. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

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)