  A non-cosmological origin for the CMB low-order multipoles and associated
anomalies is suggested in this paper. We discuss the possibility that these
features of the power spectrum originate in the termination shock (TS) region
of the heliosheath that surrounds the solar system. If the intrinsic CMB
spectrum is assumed to be a pure monopole (2.73K) then thermal processes
occurring within an ellipsoidal-shaped plasma region of the TS region could
imprint the observed low-order multipoles and their alignment (so-called 'axis
of exil') onto this background CMB. A key requirement of the model is that the
TS plasma be characterized as an optically thin graybody with non-LTE
perturbations to explain both the blackbody and non-blackbody anomalies.
Non-thermal TS processes are also discussed. TS synchrotron radiation is shown
as a possible cause for the reported ARCADE 2 CMB distortion. Magnetoacoustic
oscillations and heliosheath turbulence are suggested as possible sources for
the higher-order multipole moments of the CMB. Data from the ongoing Voyager
missions is critical to this study. Research problems are identified for future
work to better validate the heuristic models presented here.
