What are clusters?

[SlickPBW]

It's been a long time since I scanned a ring but when I scanned one today the info panel stated "clusters = 0". what is that? at first I thought clusters were hotspots but the ring had hotspots but 0 clusters. ???

are these the same as asteroid clusters?

 

[varonica]

It's been a long time since I scanned a ring but when I scanned one today the info panel stated "clusters = 0". what is that? at first I thought clusters were hotspots but the ring had hotspots but 0 clusters. ???

are these the same as asteroid clusters?

Hmm I've not seen that, maybe I need to start scanning more rings, maybe we can identify it.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

It always says this when you map Asteroid Rings for Hotspots.
So far, I've only ever seen "(0 Clusters)" Message going with it, never anything else.

I can only assume that something in the scanning/Info mechanics of probing Rings is using some internal element from Asteroid Belt Clusters.

And Hotspots aren't "it", a Ring with 30 Hotspots will still report as "0 Clusters" after mapping it.
IMHO it can be ignored similar to many placeholder/bugged strings you can get occasionally.