The Standard Model of Cosmology is a Biography about the universe, authored by human scientists. Its pages are filled with proven theories and observations that explain how the universe works. The Standard Model is a work in progress, full of empty pages. Written into its margins, we find unproven theories, like cosmic band aids, that bridge the unknowns between its chapters. The band-aid that I will address is the theory of Dark Matter.
Technological advancement continues to fine tune and improve our vision in regard to the universe, like a cosmic pair of eye glasses, our vision improves with every advance. Using marvelous high resolution telescopes, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, cosmologists can study ever clearer images of the galaxies surrounding our own Milky Way.
The theory of Dark Matter came about when we began to analyze the visible light from nearby galaxies in detail. What was found is that the amount of light that seen from any given galaxy does not account for nearly enough mass to hold the galaxy together. The stars should fly apart based on what we see. Hence, Dark Matter: Mix 5 parts Dark Matter, 1 part normal matter, and Presto! We now have enough mass to hold a galaxy together. An interesting theory, indeed.
From super massive to micro, black holes exist, and they eat light. Due to the immense amount of time that it takes the light from a nearby galaxy to reach us, untold numbers of black holes may take their respective bites out of the total amount of light that a galaxy initially sent out into space.
To put it into perspective, the nearest galaxy to ours is The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy which would take 25,000 years to travel to, if we could travel at the speed of light. That is a long way! Unfortunately, black holes are not easy to see considering their light eating nature, but they do have a lot of mass.
I believe that what we call Dark Matter is actually normal matter who’s light was lost to black holes that it encountered along it's journey, and that the missing gravity needed to hold the galaxy together can also be found in those very same black holes.
So lets remove the Dark Matter band-aid, and reveal the normal matter and black holes that it has been hiding. Matter who’s light will never grace our eyes because of the immense gravity of gorging black holes that it encountered along it’s journey.