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Put simply Dark Matter is a term used to define the matter that has to be out there to explain the attraction of galaxies in our universe. We can only directly observe matter that emits/reflects/refracts/ or absorbs electromagnetic radiation (visible light, radio waves, x-rays, etc.). However, we can infer there are particles or even massive objects out there by its gravitational attraction on other things in the universe. The candidates for dark matters basically fall into two categories, WIMPS and MACHOS. WIMPS being Weakly Interacting Massive ParticleS meaning small very massive particles that somehow don't emit electromagnetic radiation. MACHOS being Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Objects, meaning large dark bodies.
To say that that our "current cosmologies are woefully inadequate" and to put "theories" in quotation marks shows very little respect for what has been determined and discovered, and to further say they are moot is naive. The universe is a large and awesome place and serious astronomy and our so called "theories" continue to explain what is out there. Yes, there are some huge questions to be answered, including the question of dark matter, but there have been some huge questions answered. We have come so far in the last century alone and I am excited to see what is yet to come. Not too long ago, we thought we were the center of the universe and there were about seven other astronomical bodies moving around us (the stars were holes in something or other). Now we know the universe is filled with exotic and previously unfathomed things such as quasars, black holes, neutron stars, pulsars, red dwarfs, white dwarfs, other galaxies, ...
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