How to write a vertically centered asterisk in LaTex in a normal text?

What about \textasteriskcentered as in the following MWE?

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
Here is a vertically centered star \textasteriskcentered{} while here is the normal star * filler text
\end{document}

You can use $\ast1$ in math mode to archive this result. This is a shorter function to the one described above.