1. On December 13, 1778, British explorer Captain James Cook became the first known European to visit the Hawaiian Islands. He arrived on the island of Kauai and named it the "Sandwich Islands" after his patron, the Earl of Sandwich.

2. In 1835, the first Protestant missionaries arrived in Hawaii on December 13th. They were Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston, who were sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. They were instrumental in converting many Hawaiians to Christianity and played a key role in the development of the Hawaiian written language.

3. In 1845, King Kamehameha III declared December 13th as a national holiday in honor of Saint Lucy, the patron saint of eyesight. This holiday is still celebrated in Hawaii today and is known as St. Lucy's Day.

4. On December 13, 1898, the U.S. Navy established a coaling station at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This laid the foundation for the establishment of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which played a crucial role in the Pacific Theater of World War II.

5. In 1992, the Mauna Kea Observatories on Hawaii's Big Island discovered the first known planet orbiting a star other than our sun. The planet, known as "exoplanet" or "pegasus b," was discovered using the Keck Observatory's adaptive optics imaging system. This discovery revolutionized the study of astronomy and opened up new avenues for research into the universe.