If you measured the gravitational effect of stars....?

Question

Say you took each star from our Milky Way galaxy and put them into an imaginary empty space for purposes of measurement. Then you measured the gravitational effect emitted by each star and made a tally. You would get an overall number, based on the amount of gravity each star conveyed, correct?

But if you measured the stars while they were still part of the Milky Way, would you get a different result? Is an additional gravitational effect being created because the stars are linked together as one entity? Is this what accounts for "dark matter"? Is an additional gravitational density effect occuring because the stars are creating a denser local field whilst they are linked? Does the linkage involved in a galaxy create an additional field effect? Do we think of this as "missing mass", because there is more gravity there than we calculated, using normal means of measurement?

Maybe the "clumping" of "dark matter" that seems to be occuring are areas where there are dense gravity confluences.

Answer 1

I have no use for the notion of 'dark matter'. My general assumption is whatever is there to be measured, that's it, that's all there is.

Answer 2

i don't think that's the case.

i do wonder however, since they seem to be finding more and bigger black holes, if that has something to do with the amount of dark matter that should be expected.