  Observations of the weak polarization of light from nearby stars, reported by
Tinbergen (1982), are consistent with polarization by small, radius <0.14
microm, interstellar dust grains entrained in the magnetic wall of the
heliosphere. The direction of maximum polarization is offset by ~35 deg from
the heliosphere nose, and extends to low ecliptic latitudes. An offset is found
between the direction of the best aligned dust grains, and the upwind direction
of the undeflected large interstellar grains seen by Ulysses and Galileo. In
the aligned-grain region, the strength of polarization anti-correlates with
ecliptic latitude, indicating that the magnetic wall is predominantly at
negative ecliptic latitudes, which is consistent with predictions of Linde
(1998). These data are consistent with an interstellar magnetic field tilt of
60 deg with respect to the ecliptic plane, and parallel to the galactic plane.
Interstellar dust grains captured in the heliosheath may also introduce a weak,
but important, large scale contaminant for the cosmic microwave background
signal with a symmetry consistent with the relative tilts of \Bis and the
ecliptic.
