  One of the great quests of astronomy is to obtain the spectrum of a
terrestrial planet orbiting within the habitable zone of its star, and the
dominant challenge in doing so is to isolate the light of the planet from that
of the star. Dynamics-based methods separate these signals temporally, whereas
imaging techniques do so spatially. In light of the overwhelming dominance of
dynamics-based methods over the past decade, we challenge the notion that
spectra of terrestrial planets necessarily require extreme imaging methods. We
advocate that some resources be committed to refining the proven technologies
of radial-velocity measurements, transit photometry, and occultation
spectroscopy (i.e. emergent infrared spectra obtained at secondary eclipse). We
see a particularly attractive opportunity in M-dwarfs, for which the habitable
zone is close to the star, increasing the probability and frequency of
transits, and the amplitude of the induced radial-velocity variation. Such
planets could be discovered by a dedicated ground-based transit survey of the
10,000 nearest M-dwarfs. The favorable planet-star contrast ratio would make
these planets ideal targets for the study of their atmospheres with the
technique of occultation spectroscopy.
