[Tex/LaTex] \star printing as \ast

Question

I would like to use both \star and \ast in my document, but they produce the same character (*), whether or not \star is in math mode. I am using pdflatex in MikTeX 2.9 with the times package. What package do I need to get the \star character?

Answer 1

Computer modern has a star symbol. Since it is a rather stylistic symbol let's use it:

\documentclass[10pt]{article}
\usepackage{times}
\begin{document}    
    \newcommand{\mystar}{{\fontfamily{lmr}\selectfont$\star$}}

    Foo\mystar bar*
\end{document}