Periscoping is a natural behaviour that is used by royals in the wild looking over top of grass or obstacles. It is also super cute.

Stargazing that is not just exploring but actually an issue is VERY dramatic and looks like something is HORRIBLY wrong (it is actually horribly wrong.) It can be caused by IBD (that is very poorly understood in pythons) and a handful of other neurological issues. Things like poisoning to viral infections all can be a reason behind stargazing. It is not something you will mistake it looks seriously unnatural and just wrong.