A man falls from a horse at a rodeo exhibition during Tradition Day, aimed to preserve gaucho traditions, in San Antonio de Areco, Argentina, Sunday, November 13, 2022. Tradition Day is celebrated to honor the birth of Argentine writer Jose Hernandez, author of the country's national poem “The Gaucho Martin Fierro”. (Photo by Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo)

A PSE&G utility worker watches the Navy's Blue Angels and the Air Force's Thunderbirds conduct “a collaborative salute” to honor those battling the COVID-19 pandemic with a flyover of New York and New Jersey, Tuesday, April 28, 2020, in this view from Jersey City, N.J. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP Photo)

A young Ukrainian woman wears an ear of grain braid during a traditional Ukrainian celebration of Kupalo Night, in Warsaw, Poland, on Saturday, June 22, 2024. Ukrainians in Warsaw jumped over a bonfire and floated braids to honor the vital powers of water and fire on the Vistula River bank Saturday night, as they celebrated their solstice tradition of Ivan Kupalo Night away from war-torn home. (Photo by Czarek Sokolowski/AP Photo)

A group of dancers pose for a photo before their performance at the Nueva Esperanza cemetery in the shantytown Villa Maria, in Lima, Peru, Tuesday, November 1, 2016, as part of the Day of the Dead festivities. The holiday honors the deceased and coincides with All Saints Day, and All Souls Day celebrated on Nov. 1 and 2. Dancing, drinking alcohol, and eating with the deceased are part of Day of the Dead celebrations. (Photo by Martin Mejia/AP Photo)

National Beard and Moustache Championships 2015 Just for Men National Beard and Moustache Championships Presented by Hanes X-Temp, 2nd annual event honoring the best facial hair in America, with beardsmen from all over the world invited to compete. Categories include the Dali Moustache and the Full Beard Freestyle The World Beard and Moustache Association (WBMA) Championships have been held biennially since 1995 with the next competition due in 2017 in Kings Theatre, New York, NY, USA on November 7, 2015. (Photo by Dennis Van Tine/ABACAPress)

A Hindu devotee girl stands after getting her tongue pierced with a metal rod during the Thaipusam festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, February 3, 2015. Thaipusam, which is celebrated in honor of Hindu god Lord Murugan, is an annual procession by Hindu devotees seeking blessings, fulfilling vows and offering thanks. (Photo by Joshua Paul/AP Photo)

A man rides a horse through a bonfire as part of a ritual in honor of Saint Anthony, the patron saint of animals, in San Bartolome de Pinares, about 100 km west of Madrid, Spain on Thursday, January 16, 2014. On the eve of Saint Anthony's Day, hundreds ride their horses through the narrow cobblestone streets of the small village of San Bartolome during the “Luminarias”, a tradition that dates back 500 years and is meant to purify the animals with the smoke of the bonfires and protect them for the year to come. (Photo by Emilio Morenatti/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)