I think the biggest change in perception might be when Galileo observed it through a telescope.

The way I recall the story is that a glass blower noticed if water was in a round goblet, then anything behind it was magnified. He experimented, and made a low-power telescope, which was eventually brought to the attention of Galileo.

Galileo showed this the the leaders of the town, and showed how it could be taken to a tower to see a ship that is on the horizon, much sooner than could be seen with the naked eye.

The city paid a contract to start making these portable telescopes, and with the profits, he funded the making of machines that could grind and polish much larger lenses.

With a larger telescope, he got good view of the phases of Venus, a good view of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, along with the four largest moons of Jupiter. And of course a close-up of our moon, allowing him to make detailed drawings of the craters.