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If dark matter didn't exist, scientists say, galaxies like the Milky Way would have already flown apart from a severe lack of gravitational "glue."

IOW, there is not enough apparent mass in the visible components of the galaxies to create the gravity needed to keep individual systems from escaping from their respective galactic centers. Since observation shows them not flying apart, there must be something that is not visible that is creating the gravitational effects needed to hold the galaxies together. Not only that, there has to be a whole bunch of the elusive, non-observable stuff. In fact, to get the observed effects, about 90% of the total mass of the universe has to be made of the stuff.

Picking up on a comment in another posting, since the stuff is real (has all the characteristics of matter (except visibility) to include mass), it can be detected by the distortions it causes in the straight line propagation of light. Yet no distortions of light have been detected within our solar system. One might infer there is no dark matter present. Yet the stuff makes up 9 out of every 10 parts of the universe. Why is the SOL system apparently exempt? In fact, what does the supposed presence of dark matter do to all the pre-dark matter calculations used to work out the mass and and orbits of the planets? Make them null and void? Just get subsumed in the gravitational constant?

Guess we will have to stay tuned for episode two.