An isothermal sphere with constant positive isothermal sound speed obeys the title hydrostatic equilibrium equation. Between two positive finite radii with bounded enclosed mass, its right-hand side has a finite integral. A positive starting density therefore remains positive at any proposed finite outer radius. It cannot meet a vacuum boundary with there without an additional confining structure or a change of equation of state. The singular isothermal sphere makes the obstruction explicit: and never vanish at finite radius, and its mass grows as without bound at infinity.
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