So if I understand this correctly, It is not that reality has evolved only our perception of reality has changed.
What it actually highlights is the different ways we erroneously have believed scientific “truths” by observation. And that one should never say “science” never settles anything.
Just yesterday, I finished reading a fascinating book that opened my appreciation for early astronomy: “The history and practice of ancient astronomy”.
Prior to reading, there were only a few specific events in history I knew anything about - each representing a significant leap: Ptolemy and epicycles, Copernicus and Heliocentricity, and then Newton.
This book filled in ALL the gaps and then some. There was actually quite an evolution from various Babalonians, many more Greeks, before and after Ptolemy... each adding some signifant piece of the puzzle. I was surprised to learn that the ancients 2000 years ago knew about precession and had developed ways to deal with it (for example, the sun precesses a bit in the zodiac, appearing a bit behind the previous place at each successive equinox).
There was indeed a lull in Europe for about 1000 years after Ptolemy that preceeded Copernicus, who in essence was still a Ptolomist... but the real leap to modern astronomy was Keppler, building onto Copernicus with how orbits are ellipsis, and a planet moves faster at perigee, slower at apogee - key to predicting exactly how the planets move and orbit. Newton later added the why of gravitational forces.