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This paper describes a numerical discretization of the compressible Euler equations with a gravitational potential. A pertinent feature of the solutions to these inhomogeneous equations is the special case of stationary solutions with zero velocity, described by a nonlinear partial differential equation, whose solutions are called hydrostatic equilibria. We present a well‐balanced method, meaning that besides discretizing the complete equations, the method is also able to maintain all hydrostatic equilibria. The method is a finite volume method, whose Riemann solver is approximated by a so‐called relaxation Riemann solution that takes all hydrostatic equilibria into account. Relaxation ensures robustness, accuracy, and stability of our method, because it satisfies discrete entropy inequalities. We will present numerical examples, illustrating that our method works as promised. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.