A scanning microscope includes a light source unit that projects laser light, an optical system that converges and applies the laser light onto data obtaining points on a specimen, and a data obtaining order deciding unit that decides a data obtaining order such that adjacent data obtaining points are not consecutive in the data obtaining order. A scanning unit scans the laser light in accordance with the data obtaining order, a detector detects detection light from the data obtaining points, respectively, and a storage unit stores luminance information on the detection light detected by the detector in association with positional information on the data obtaining points, respectively. An image formation unit forms a two-dimensional image based on the stored associated luminance and positional information.