Admiration is a social emotion felt by observing people of competence, talent, or skill exceeding standards. Admiration facilitates social learning in groups. Admiration motivates self-improvement through learning from role-models.
Admiration by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1897
Awe is an emotion comparable to wonder but less joyous. On Robert Plutchik's wheel of emotions awe is modeled as a combination of surprise and fear.
Destruction of Tyre by John Martin (1840)
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818) by German Romantic landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich
The Great Day of His Wrath by John Martin
This Atlanta lightning strike may have inspired awe.