1629: Birth of Christiaan Huygens, the Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (died 1695). A true polymath, he discovered Titan (Saturn's largest moon) and was the first to understand the true nature of the planet's rings. 

2023: Launch of the JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) probe from the Kourou base. Its mission: to explore Jupiter's icy moons to determine whether their subsurface oceans could harbour forms of life. 

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