Awe And Wonder

I've been chatting with my Uncle recently about spirituality- and what the different 'bigger things' are that we connect with as humans. One of these for me is that 'greater other' of the universe. I remembered hearing about a discussion in which teacher were less and less expected to instill a 'sense of Awe and Wonder', but must rather meet targets and teach scientific facts and processes. When do we stop speculating and calculating in order simply to look at something with Awe and Wonder?

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html has an astronomy picture of the day each day. (Thanks for the link Ollie) When I started to scroll through these picutures, in captured that sense of Awe and Wonder in me (as well as provoking envy of those with a bigger monitor!!).

What are the different things which we can connect with which our greater than ourselves to create that sense of awe and wonder? Do they have to be overtly religious in order for us to say that connecting with them is a spiritual experience?